Operation Hide the Football
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: A secret government project leads a group on a long road journey seeking someplace safe. What they don't know, is their safe place is right in between Woodbury and the prison. Can this small group stay safe and out of the crossfire or will they be forced to choose sides.
1. Chapter 1

This has been plaguing my dreams since I started watching Walking Dead. For those who know me…Do you have to ask…yes I've got to try to make the worlds work so expect plenty of Feral growliness and yes expect our favorite ferals to make not only an appearance but be main protagonists…Walking Dead/X-Men Crossover. I've never had any luck posting crossovers in the crossover section, I'm not sure anyone reads them, so I'll just throw this in with all the Walking Dead love and see what it gets me.

For those who know me, Sabretooth/OC. There will be plenty of Walking Characters, I'm just not sure where I'm going to take it until I see the end of the next four episodes so for now, it will just be my small group, maybe meet a few of the others as they get closer to their goal.

A secret government project leads a group on a long road journey seeking someplace safe. What they don't know, is their safe place is right in between Woodbury and the prison. Can this small group stay safe and out of the crossfire or will they be forced to choose sides.

Walking Dead: Operation Hide The Football Chapter 1

Kate watched out the window, her apartment that looked out on Battery Park provided her an interesting perspective on the walking corpses below. Her sisters groaned, and she could smell the hunger from all of them. She was going to have to make a food run, but right now, she was distracted by watching the salt water batter the corpses shuffling on the street below. It acted like an acid, the older the corpse, the faster the salt water made it decay.

Kate turned to her desk and made a few more notes on the map of the country spread out on it. She glanced at some invoices that she never should have seen, and spared Brian a brief thought, knowing he was probably a corpse somewhere in DC. He certainly hadn't spent a thought on her or her sisters if he wasn't. She glanced again at the dots on the map, five highlighted in yellow, but only two in her pink 'safe zone.'

"Kate, we really need food." Maddie said, the whine in her voice an irritant. Kate liked to have everything planned. She traced one sharp claw along a highway, south down to the pink of the safe zone. Two of the dots showed mixed orange from the yellow and pink highlighters. It looked like the very small town of Warm Springs, Georgia would be the closest and safest goal. The Oklahoma City dot really seemed two far away to make it safely.

"Maddie, don't distract me, I'm planning." She snapped.

"Kate…" This time it was Amy, the youngest of the four sisters. If she'd stayed in Texas, Oklahoma City might have been a target, but now, with her lower Manhattan apartment, and trying to find a way out of the city, Georgia was going to be the best, and she glanced at the invoice in her hand, and most complete, of all the bunkers.

"Get your bags. Don't pack anything heavy, because you're carrying them." She snapped at all three of them. JoJo sat in the corner crying. "Snap out of it Jo. We're gonna get some food – and supplies, and probably, once we're out of town, get a car. Amy you stay in the middle, you're the only one I worry about getting bit. The rest of us can heal it."

She grabbed the map, folding it carefully along the lines that were so warn the map was in danger of falling apart. She packed it quickly into a Ziploc bag so she could see her plan for the route out of the city, and grabbed her backpack.

They'd made it through the first months of the outbreak with the supplies her foster father taught her to stock back. Her prepper upbringing had saved their lives. She didn't think the dead could smell them this high, and she planed on going up, not down, until she could find a place to hit the streets without drawing attention. The early spring weather wasn't going to help them, cold at night and warmer during the day, layering was the only option. She helped the younger girls into their hoodies and tied their heavier coats around their waists. It was noon, easier to move around without throwing shadows or messing with any light that might alert the walking corpses to their movements.

The girls knew her drills and Maddie started up the fire escape first. Amy and then JoJo went up next, with Jo helping her younger sister over the rough parts of the climb. Kate followed, ready to catch either of the younger girls before they fell…and with Amy it could be a fall to her death.

Since JoJo started healing, Kate realized the small family of ferals had a chance of getting out of the city. Amy was the only weak link, her healing factor still years away. Maddie at fifteen, JoJo at thirteen and Amy at eight were not exactly at optimal survival ages, but their mutation would help a great deal. Kate, at twenty-two knew she was pushing her luck, but she had to get them safe, and safe for the long term, before anything happened to her. She didn't want to think about why she had the girls, her family life prior to running away and being placed in foster care was something she'd locked away and didn't look at. Period.

She glanced around when they reached the rooftop. She'd been working, stealthily, to make the trip out of Manhattan easier on her sisters. She'd built bridges across gaps in buildings that were too big to jump, just a two by four here and there, but she knew the girls could manage them. There was a place she found, where there were a bunch of well cared for cars, most of them with full gas tanks, but it was a big black SUV she had her eyes on. It had two tanks, both full, the last time she'd checked, and the keys left in the ignition. Part of her thought it might be a trap, it was just too good to be true, but she couldn't think of anything living that would bother at this point.

The four girls made it to her final stop on the rooftops. Below was the entrance to the garage…but the SUV was already out – and running? She saw a male, big, wearing a black leather duster leaning against the side of the car, a pile of newly dead corpses at his feet.

"You frails gonna get a move on, or am I leavin' without ya." He called. She looked down at him, and his jet black eyes and groaned. Why NOW!

"Fuck. Shit. Fuck…Damnit." She hissed.

"Kate?"

"I know who he is." She hissed. She wasn't really upset at finally tracking him down. His presence meant she might live long enough to see Amy grown after all.

She dropped from the roof landing on her feet away from the stinking corpses.

"Creed." She said slowly. "I didn't know the car was yours."

"'sokay, I didn't know the scent was yours…shoulda tracked it sooner." He leered at her. She knew the price…not only for her sisters safety but for her very life, and gave him her own once over. The leather was worn, covered in blood, and he wasn't his usual glowing self, his chops barely differentiated from the scruff on his chin from not shaving. The black button down shirt had pieces of corpse brain and blood on it, and he actually made an attempt at brushing it off.

"Girls load your shit, and see if fang face there has any food." She gave a low growl as he reached to open the door for Amy. He wasn't going to hurt the cub.

"Relax, Frail. I ain't gonna eat her…you on the other hand…that has potential." She glared, but walked around the car, her claws slipping from under her nail beds as she saw the shuffling figure blocking the passenger door. She didn't think twice, just rammed her six inch index claw into its eye as she opened the door, slung her backpack into the floor boards and slid in. She'd lost any thought for killing them in the first week.

"Should we negotiate terms…?" He said as he started to climb into the car.

"Put your seatbelts on." She ignored him and instructed the girls over her shoulder. She looked at the man in the driver's seat. "No negotiation until we're safely in Warm Springs, Georgia." She said, teeth snapping together sharply, her fangs grinding against her lower lip.

"What's in Warm Springs?" He asked, and she could smell curiosity above his raging lust.

"Safety." She said, pulling her map from the backpack at her feet.

"Darlin' I think you misunderstand what's going on. There is no safety anymore, not even for ferals like us." He growled, pushing the sleeve of his coat up to expose a slowly healing bite. "At least we can't catch whatever it is."

"You're wrong. This place will be safe." She didn't have to explain. If he wanted sex for helping her and the girls, he'd get it. If he wanted more, he'd get that, too. She always knew, almost from the time she came to New York, that eventually she would have to deal with Victor Creed. It was just going to be on her terms.

"So, Georgia…" he said as he put the car into gear. "That's gonna be a long assed drive."

"Georgia." She said, looking out the front of the car.

He knew the streets of Manhattan like she knew the rooftops. Hell he probably knew them as well as she did too.

He opened the console between the seats and tossed some packages of beef jerky into the backseat with her sisters.

"Shut up yer stomachs, cubs. It's distractin' while I drive." He passed her a package too, and she ripped into it. All of her food for the last week had gone to the girls. She knew she had to get her plan right, before they took off. She was surprised at how easily they moved through the now deserted city. Surprisingly, there hadn't been any military attacks against New York – mostly because by the time they got to firebombing population centers, New York had been completely over run – and written off.

Television, cell phones and radio gave out within the first week. The HAM Radio network lasted longer, that was how she knew about the firebombing attacks on the other cities and why New York was spared. The final transmitter that she'd been able to talk to went down last week. She didn't know if he'd succumbed to the illness, been overrun by walking corpses – or just opted out. She hoped for the last, safer that way.

She felt her eyes getting heavy, something she knew would happen the first time she got anything to eat into her body. She knew the man in the seat next to her was a killer, assassin by choice, accountant by trade, hell; her 401(k) had been with his company when she worked at Random House. She knew he wouldn't hurt her or the girls though. She had something he wanted – and needed. Her. With the world gone to shit, even he would be thinking about survival and not just immediate, but of a species, and she had the only available genes that would breed true with his. Not only that, she had three other feral females he could search for mates for, once they were safe. He had a treasure trove of reproductive capability for the feral mutant genome. A treasure certainly not lost on him.

She felt her eyes close as she leaned against the back of the seat. She'd regret it when she woke up, but she really needed the sleep.

_She cringed behind the statue base. She heard the loud yell. "Kate, get your ass back here. I swear girl, you'll wish for just that broken arm." Her father, the bastard, she looked at the brace on her arm. Both the bones in her forearm this time, along with three in her hand and six in the wrist. She'd been surprised she could run on the broken ankle too, but she knew he was going to kill her this time. Her only hope was to hide and hope he stopped looking so she could plan to run away._

_She heard a strange sound, like a scream cut short into a wet gurgle. She glanced around the statue base and saw a tall man in a long black coat standing over something on the ground._

"…_this pro bono, after what I found in that burned out husk. Tryin ta breed ferals were ya, Dick? Not a good idea, especially when you get my attention. Dr. Wilson, you've been a very bad boy." She watched as he kicked the thing on the ground and it let out a groan. She shuddered. It was her father on the ground. She watched as the man took his time, cutting into her father's form. The smell of blood filled the air and she tried not to make a sound, but somehow she knew he'd heard her anyway._

"_Cub." His voice was loud enough for her to hear. "Run. Get away from here and don't look back." A small bundle landed at her feet. "Don't go home; don't talk to anyone just go." She watched him turn to walk away. "Don't make me come looking for ya."_

_She waited until he was almost out of sight, and she didn't know where she got the courage. "I might just come looking for you." She whispered. He stopped, and glanced back, and she felt more than heard the deep chuckle._

_The bag at her feet held money, cash, she didn't know how much, but she knew she needed to get away and fast. Denton, Texas just became too dangerous for her._

The car jostled her just enough to open her eyes for a second, but she quickly dropped back into a dream.

"…_set the line like this, loose enough that the animal will think it is a twig or a branch, but tight enough that when the sapling springs up like this…" SNAP "the line will catch it by the foot and hold it until you get here."_

"_That is so cool, Steve." Kate said, watching her foster father build several more of his snare traps. Her new family had all kinds of cool stuff, and she kept learning more and more. Of course her time here was almost up. Her mutation decided to flare up in school, and now some fancy school back east wanted her to come live there and learn how to use it._

"_Don't ever forget what I've taught you." He gave her a quick hug. "You never know when you might need it someday."_

The car jostled again as he pushed past a roadblock of stopped cars, driving on the side or in the ditch to get past them.

"How long was I out?" She asked.

"About three hours, they're still out too." He grumbled. She relaxed. She knew that sound. She'd lived with Logan for four years while she graduated from high school and started college. They sounded alike when they were trying to be assholes but couldn't.

"You heard anything from Xavier's?" She asked.

"They were over run about three weeks ago. Several ferals and those with some form of healing got out. The good news is the mutation doesn't come back when they do, otherwise, we'd have zombies who could control ice." He said. She gulped, well that meant Bobby was one of the dead ones.

"Any idea where they went?"

"Nope." He yanked the wheel hard and pulled them back up onto paved highway, clear for the time being. She looked back and watched as the dead behind them got smaller, but the group seemed to grow.

"How long have they been back there?"

"They've been on our tail since we left the city. I figure we'll outrun them, but they seem to gain numbers." He actually sounded worried.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, when we stop, and we'll have to, they'll still keep coming unless something distracts them. I'm hoping something distracts them." His mouth was set in a grim line. She could smell their combined fear in the car and knew that even if they made it to a temporary shelter they'd just have to keep moving.

"How far can we go without stopping?"

"I figure we can make it into Pennsylvania before I have to scrounge for more gas." He said. She nodded, and pulled out her map.

The gas station he found still had power, and he tried swiping his card at the pump.

"Shit."

"What?"

"The VISA network is finally down; can you go in and punch the button for pre-pay?" He growled. She glowered at him but opened the car door. She didn't smell or hear any signs of the dead around and started to walk toward the convenience store entrance.

"KATE!" Amy screamed.

She turned and glared at the three girls in the back seat. "What have I told you about loud noises? Do you want some dead thing to come along and bite you or something?"

"But Maddie's hitting me with her tongue!" Amy had tears running down her face.

"Maddie, stop hitting your sister with your tongue, just keep it in your mouth from now on." She glared at the fifteen year old. She shook her head and just turned for the store again.

"I swear, once I get them safe, I'm going to ground them from video games for a month!" she muttered under her breath as she opened the door and looked around for anything that might want to take a bite out of her. She didn't see, hear or smell anything, so she jumped over the counter and flipped the switch for the pump he was using. At least with power he could fill up both tanks, and she saw several extras on the bottom shelf under the counter and decided to take them out for him to fill as well.

She also grabbed one of those Styrofoam temporary coolers and raided the still cool refrigeration units and grabbed sports drinks, water and anything that looked like it had real juice in it. She avoided any of the refrigerated foods, but grabbed chips and any canned food she could find and threw it into bags. She wasn't sure how long it would take to find the school when they found White Springs. There were still bags of ice in the ice freezer out front so she grabbed one of those too to keep the drinks cool.

"Hope you paid for that." He growled.

"With what, VISA's down, remember." She growled back as she climbed into the car. She felt one more reason to stay and glanced into the back seat at the girls.

"The inside's safe, two minutes each, get in, wipe get out." She glared at Maddie who took forever in the bathroom, even to just relieve her bladder. "If you're not all three back out here in seven minutes, I'll send him in after you."

All three girls took off at a dead run for the store entrance. She waited until they were out of sight to chuckle.

The answering chuckle from the driver's seat made her glare.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothin – just a look into the future." He chuckled again.

"I think I got enough food that we should be fine without any other stops, and I found five of these three gallon tanks to fill up too, maybe we won't have to stop as much."

He nodded and grabbed them. He'd left the nozzle out of the cradle so it wouldn't cut off again, and filled the cans and stowed them in the back of the SUV.

"I gotta ask…" He started.

She glared at him, just daring him to say it.

"Why the hell are you with me? I mean you obviously have a plan, and have the flat guts to carry it through, why didn't ya tell me ta go ta hell?"

"You had the car I wanted." She said stiffly. She didn't want to tell him about her years at Xavier's, fighting him in the Danger Room, about wanting to meet him in person. She had to keep her distance; at least until she was sure the one person who could stand between her and the rest of her life was dead.

"Bullshit. Try again."

"Alright, because you're a fucking male feline feral, with an SUV and gas and claws and able to keep me and mine alive and safe until I can get where we're going. You're fucking Sabretooth for God's sake." She snarled as she climbed in and fastened her seatbelt, a cold bottle of some sports drink in her hand.

"Bullshit…again." He stood there holding the door open as the girls quickly climbed into the back seat and fastened their seatbelts.

"OK! FINE!" She snarled. "I saw you kill my dad when I was eleven." She heard the girls hiss behind her. "I figured I owed you for that, so I could let you in on the plan, besides, you said not to make you come looking for me, so I found you." That was all she was going to say. He didn't know she knew the rest. He didn't know how close she and Ororo had been. He didn't know she knew they'd been seeing each other for the last three years…or that she knew Ro was pregnant. She was just hoping Ro had survived, and was out there somewhere…if not, she was going to feel really guilty for the rest of her life for not going back to get her.

"Eleven? Where?" He looked puzzled. Shit had he killed that many people that year that he couldn't even remember her.

"Denton, Texas…you killed Dr. Richard Wilson." She glared as he climbed into the driver's seat. "In the town square, I was hiding behind…"

"A statue base…I remember." He started the car and pulled out onto the wrong side of the highway…at least the side heading into town was deserted. "Killed that scum pro-bono too, he deserved it after I found his lab, burned those frails and cubs in their beds."

"Actually, that was why he was chasing me. I caused the fire. They were dead before I got there though, so he may still have killed them. I tripped in one of the labs and pulled a rubber hose loose from a gas line…there was another burner on…well you know how gas and flame kinda explode."

He chuckled again, this time she joined him. She didn't like talking about the past, but at least this time it was with someone who understood.

"Bastard deserved it anyway…" He grumbled as he swerved to avoid a couple of corpses walking down the highway.

She glanced into the back seat. The girls had muffins that were probably long past their sell by date, but frankly at this point, it was some kind of food and they needed to keep their strength up.

"So…introductions?" He grumbled.

"Kate Wilson, but I figured you knew that. This is Maddie, Josephine and Amy, my three younger sisters. Maddie's amphibian, and if she doesn't stop slapping her sister with her tongue she'll be grounded for a year before we even GET safe. JoJo's canine, not sure what strength her healing will be, but it's strong already, and we don't know what Amy Moo's gift is going to be, yet."

"Amy Moo?" She watched him exchange glances of disgust with said sister.

"It was Mom's nickname for her." She grumbled.

"I'll stick to Amy, thanks." He said.

"You're turn."

"I think you did just grand a few minutes ago…" He spared her a toothy grin. She quickly looked away. In the Danger Room that grin meant someone was going to get hurt.

"Girls, Victor Creed, also known as…." She started.

"We know, we know, Sabretooth." Maddie snapped.

Everyone settled down to either eat or drink or just take in the scenery – what there was that wasn't spoiled by shambling corpses crawling across it. She couldn't wait to get the girls safe and underground. Just a few more days and they could crawl in a hole and forget the rest of the world for at least seven years and never have to deal with this crap, hopefully, again.

"So – you gonna clue me in on this plan?"

"Might as well, you're in for a penny, in for a pound at this point anyway." She turned to look at him.

"I was dating this guy, Brian, who worked in the Congressional Budget Office – in the Accounts Payable section actually. I was interning at Random House, in the science fiction department. I was editing and proofing books, one happened to be a post Nuclear apocalypse type thing where the protagonist survived by hiding in an old fall out shelter under a school. Part of my job was fact checking."

"Is that what the guy at the CBO was about?"

"No, but he helped me put some pieces together. I started researching, and found that most schools built between 1945 and 1963 were built with some kind of fallout shelter underneath. He found out about my research and started bringing me copies of invoices he'd paid, for things like construction, supplies, weapons, all tied to a project called Operation Hide the Football."

"Never heard of it."

"After nine eleven, and President Bush being stuck in the school in Florida while the planes were still incoming, the secret service decided they needed a shelter bunker in every state, someplace they could stash the President until it would be safe for him to come out again – or worse."

"Or worse?"

"These things are stocked for up to two thousand people for up to seven years, according to the invoices…they have independent power generation, I don't know what kind, but they're not on any grid, and some of the things they were paying for were nitrogen cooling tanks for embryos, seed, all heirlooms, and farm equipment, not just tanks and guns and ammo and stuff."

"Two thou…seven y…." He stuttered. "Are you shitting me?"

"No, I'm not shitting you. They are underground, one way in, one way out, hidden entrances where no one would think to look. You have to KNOW about it to realize where it is, so I think, unless they've got the President stashed in this one, it should be safe, it was the one they finished most recently, but they didn't get around to installing the biometric locks, so it should still have just a key."

"You really thought this out…but why Georgia? I know of a few places in New York we probably could have hidden out in."

"It will be a safe zone, eventually." She said.

"Safe zone?"

"The cold up here will push them south, and they'll avoid coast lines, ocean water acts like an acid on them, they decay faster…so a cold winter to push them down against the Gulf of Mexico or down into Florida and Mexico should clear most of the big groups, within a year or two, then we'd only have to deal with stragglers and survivors when we came up. The safe zone will be where the frost line stops, so we don't get too cold underground just in case the power gives out, and far enough north that the water table is well below where the shelter floor should lay, so we don't have to worry about water corroding the concrete for a long time."

"You really have planned all of this?" It was less of a question and more of a statement.

"My foster father was a survivalist; he taught me how to think in those terms, and how to plan the best way to take care of myself and anyone who depended on me." She glared at him.

"It was a compliment, frail – shit." He went back to his silent contemplation, and she turned her glare at the map. They'd been on the road the best part of a day, but they couldn't move very fast, not with trying to avoid roadblocks and walking corpses. She traced the route down the I81 to I77. With the slowdowns, she didn't think they'd make it past that tonight, and they would probably have to stop to try to find gas again before then.

He didn't even look at her map, just drove along deserted interstate, on the wrong side, but didn't speak again. She glanced back at the girls, but they'd all three fallen asleep. She decided they had the right idea. He reached over and took the map from her hand.

"Just shut yer yap and yer eyes. I'll get us as far as I can." He growled, not really, it sounded more like a purr. She smiled and took his advice, and shut her eyes again. Sleep wasn't something she'd had a lot of lately.


	2. Chapter 2

This has been plaguing my dreams since I started watching Walking Dead. For those who know me…Do you have to ask…yes I've got to try to make the worlds work so expect plenty of Feral growliness and yes expect our favorite ferals to make not only an appearance but be main protagonists…Walking Dead/X-Men Crossover. I've never had any luck posting crossovers in the crossover section, I'm not sure anyone reads them, so I'll just throw this in with all the Walking Dead love and see what it gets me.

For those who know me, Sabretooth/OC. There will be plenty of Walking Characters, I'm just not sure where I'm going to take it until I see the end of the next four episodes so for now, it will just be my small group, maybe meet a few of the others as they get closer to their goal.

A secret government project leads a group on a long road journey seeking someplace safe. What they don't know, is their safe place is right in between Woodbury and the prison. Can this small group stay safe and out of the crossfire or will they be forced to choose sides.

A/N Sorry so short, but had to adjust for season so they get to the bunker at the right time...besides a wounded Sabretooth is so much fun to write.

Walking Dead: Operation Hide the Football Chapter 2

She glared out of the cave and down at her map. She'd seriously underestimated their chances to make it to Georgia in a couple of days. Philadelphia had been a mess and with the large groups of dead on the highway, they'd had to resort to off roads. Dead-ends and no filling stations had meant abandoning the SUV after the third day. They weren't moving much faster than they did on foot anyway with all the snarls and problems on the roads.

"Frail, is that soup done yet." He growled from the back of the cave. That was another issue…they'd had to wait for him to heal. The bites couldn't kill them or make them sick, but they didn't heal as fast as they should with the healing factors.

"Yeah, give me a sec to get a bowl." She said, ladling up a portion of soup, larger than she was giving herself or the girls, but they didn't have to re-grow most of the muscle below the mid thigh either. Maddie was changing the dressings again, and Kate cringed. It still looked like hamburger pressed on a bone, or that stuff they used to make gyro sandwiches, only bloody and red.

"Here, it's hot." She said handing him the bowl, knowing he would just toss aside a spoon if she offered it.

"We ain't got time to be down like this." He growled.

"I know…but we can't keep dragin' you with us, you're leaving a blood trail a human can follow and these dead things can smell almost as well as we can." She snapped back. He was a grouch, a pain in her ass, and if he didn't stop treating her like she was stupid she'd give him what for. He was the reason they were hiding out in a cave with barely any food supplies, somewhere in the Appalachian mountains, with no towns or farms or even a damned corn liquor still around for supplies.

She went back to watching the rain outside the cave entrance, and barely noticed when he threw the bowl at her when he was finished eating. They only had the one bowl, so each of them had to use it, and take turns eating.

"I'da been up the tree if the runt hadn't slipped." He groused again. Kate could smell the tears from Amy. It wasn't her fault she slipped and nearly fell out of the tree, the bark was wet…like today, it had been foggy and raining, and anyone could have made the same mistake. But Amy blamed herself for getting him half eaten while he pushed her up where the dead couldn't get a grip on her. Kate had dragged him up, and then heaved for about twenty minutes. Everything from his knees down was just bloody bone, and above that there wasn't any cloth – or flesh – left up to mid thigh.

He'd actually passed out at one point and she and Maddie dragged him through the trees, the group of zombies following them. Kate finally found a cave high in a sheer cliff that you had to be able to climb trees to get to, and no way to get to it from above.

"I'm going to have to try to make another run." She said finally, looking at his dark form in the back of the cave. "We're almost out of food and you need more than you're getting to heal properly."

"Best do it in the rain; they won't be able to smell you as well." He growled. She nodded. She grabbed an empty backpack, and looked at the girls huddled on one side, sleeping bags draped around them like a tent.

"Stay warm, and don't let him move much." She said. "I'll be back as quick as I can."

They all three just looked at her and nodded. Gone were threats of grounding and punishment. They all three were far too precious to even get angry at anymore. They had to get moving again…or find others they could group with.

She'd seen a couple groups go by when she'd checked the highway, but her gut told her to stay hidden. She'd snuck up on one group as they camped and it didn't take long for her to realize why she didn't trust them. There'd been about twenty men, and twelve or thirteen girls, not even women, girls Maddie's age. After they stopped, and ate, whatever was left was tossed to the girls to fight over, and then someone brought out a big hard hat, and threw paper into it. Each man drew a piece of paper until they were all gone, she couldn't figure out the rhyme or reason for it until the first man walked to the group of hunger crazed girls, and pushed several aside until he found the one he was looking for. He turned her to the group of men and Kate saw the number painted on the back of her shirt. The other men nodded, and he dragged the girl to his campsite. He didn't even bother taking clothes off, just pushed her to the ground on her hands and knees, and opened his pants.

Kate had left, and made sure they stayed in the cave until she was certain that group was gone. Some of the others had seemed better – some worse, and her trust level was pretty thin, just having Creed with them. They'd be better off together.

When she was out like this, climbing through the tree tops and ridgelines of the Appalachians she remembered how she'd learned to live…Steve and Martha taught her everything they knew, and she knew she could keep them alive as long as she remembered what they taught her.

The first of her traps yielded a few rabbits. She quickly skinned and field dressed them. If he didn't know it was rabbit he'd eat it. She remembered the first time she'd brought a rabbit back to camp; he'd nearly fallen out of the cave trying to drag himself away from it. Now she just cleaned them and he didn't know what he was eating.

She found an opossum in another snare and grinned; always a good way to hide the taste of rabbit in a stew. She'd found a few wild carrots and onions, but everyone was getting tired of camp stew, and she woke up dreaming about white bread and cheese.

She stopped dead, leaning against the tree trunk and looked down. Three dead shambled under the tree she was in. None of them looked up, but she still tried not to make a sound. She knew it was the rabbit blood that had their attention, but if she took the damned things back to camp to clean, he'd refuse food, like he had on several occasions. He needed the meat to heal.

The three passed on, probably heading to the spot where she'd cleaned the animals. The entrails would keep them passive and satisfied while she checked a few more traps.

"Hey, Randall, would you lookie here. Someone's gone and trapped our supper." She heard a gruff voice with a definite Jersey accent say.

"Dayum, I ain't had fresh rabbit in a while." A younger voice said.

"You ain't had fresh mucha anythin in a while." Another voice ribbed back. "Too bad you backed out with the old man and those two girls. Nice and tight…and they didn't scream much – til the creapies got 'em."

The younger voice whimpered and Kate held her breath. She'd sacrifice a few rabbits to avoid having her sisters raped by these idiots. She considered killing them, right then and there, but held back. The bodies would draw too many zombies and she didn't want to wait to leave any longer than they had to.

The three men took off, with a brace of hares, and she made her slow way back to the cave. Late spring meant some berries were ripened already, and she made cautious trips to the ground to pick as many as she could find.

"You're late." He growled.

"Who are you, Big Ben?" She growled back. She could feel his eyes boring into her as she butchered the opossum. She used sticks and spitted it over the fire. The rabbit meat went into the pot that she kept adding to for their stew, along with the few onions and carrots she'd found. She divided the berries up, leaving him the largest potion, if it was the only carbohydrates she could find, he needed them to heal.

"You and the girls should have left me." He said, she wasn't sure she heard him at first.

"What?"

"You'd have been in Georgia by now. Safe and hidden in your bunker."

"I told you, we're staying together or not at all." She growled.

"YOU NEED TO GO!" He roared at her, she froze as the birds and animals around them paused.

"I don't need you screaming your lungs out." She growled back at him. "There's a group of survivors running around in these woods, and they really like to play with little girls and them leave them to get eaten, so sure, scream your fucking head off, you selfish bastard. Bring them down on me – Maddie – JoJo – oh and of course the RUNT you hate so much." The last wasn't even a growl, but a full hiss.

He looked shocked for a moment then chuckled.

"'Bout time you grew a pair." He said finally.

He pulled the sleeping bag that covered his lower legs off, and she was shocked to see new skin growth.

"I'll be back on my feet in a few days. We're gonna have to move soon."

"Fine – just quit being an asshole." She glanced over to where the girls were sleeping.

"But it's what I'm good at." He growled back, but she could see the smile. The smile that always worried her, the one that said something was going to die.

She curled up in her own sleeping bag, and turned her back on him. He could just get his lazy ass up and get him some rabbit stew if he needed more. She was sick of waiting on him hand and foot.


End file.
